Help Wanted: Customs and Border Protection aims to fill 11,000 national positions

Job-seekers: Are you in good physical shape? Willing to work overtime? Free of any significant legal or employment-history problems?

And, by the way, do you have what it takes to keep terrorists and their weapons out of the United States?

If so, you may want to head up to Blaine on Saturday.

While each day brings news of another local business or national industry axing jobs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is gearing up to fill 11,000 positions across the country this year.

"These are good jobs, with benefits," said Thomas Schreiber, a CBP spokesman in Blaine, who said a Border Patrol agent or Customs field officer can, after a couple of years, make an annual salary of about $58,000, with overtime pay on top of that.

Blaine is one of 15 locations across the country hosting on Saturday the first "National Career Day" of the Customs and Border Protection agency, an area of government that has expanded significantly in post-9/11 years under the Department of Homeland Security.

Of the 11,000 jobs to be filled nationally, about 8,000 are front-line law-enforcement positions, such as Border Patrol agents, Field Operations customs officers and air and marine officers, said Joe Arata, CBP's top national recruiter.

The other 3,000 jobs run the gamut of support positions — administrators, clerical workers, information-technology experts, mechanics and more.

"We need people fixing vehicles, turning wrenches, operating radios. It cuts across many different types of occupations," Arata said.

Several thousand of the new hires will replace workers reaching retirement age, but most will enter newly created positions in the hybrid customs-border agency formed in 2003 with a heightened mission to fortify U.S. borders.

In the fiscal year ending last Sept. 30, the agency added a net 5,500 jobs, growing to more than 52,000 employees.

Although some of the available jobs are based at the Blaine border crossing, in the Seattle area or other locations in Washington state, job-hunters significantly increase their chances of getting hired if they can relocate, Arata said.

And all Border Patrol agents — the agency hopes to hire 4,000 agents this year — start with a stint in the Southwestern U.S.

Sharp job cuts in many sectors of the economy have expanded the pool of candidates interested in Border Patrol and related jobs; Arata noted that a recruitment event in Ohio last year drew a large number of displaced automotive workers.

"But that's not the only reason (for the interest). There's also a thing called patriotism," Arata said. "It's amazing how many people want to work for an agency that's responsible for defending the country."

A background in law enforcement or the military is a plus, but not required.

Applicants for Border Patrol agent jobs must be under 40, which Arata said is due to the mandatory retirement at 60 and the requirement for 20 years of service for full retirement. For the same reason, candidates for Customs field- operations-officer positions must be under 37. The age restriction does not apply to support positions.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com